From the time I had my first son in 2000, until 20 years later when both of my sons graduated from high school together, my life was non-stop busyness.  Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I discovered how valuable using a planner was.  Combined with my need for a creative outlet (creating printables, doodling, memory-making), planning became my happy place.

So now, one of my guys works full-time, the other goes to college full-time, and Mom is now at home by herself all day. They need my help keeping up with things far less than they did before, but I still have the desire to manage all the things, in a middle of a pandemic where everything has slowed down  How do I plan without having any plans?  Luckily, I have a few ideas.

As you see in my daily page from today, I added today's date header, using lettering.  I started practicing about 6 months or so ago, and it is something that appeals to my creative side.

I don't have much of a schedule, but sometimes I add one for fun and write in everyday happenings such as my daily routine (wake-up time, quiet time, desk time, meals, etc.).  Even without specific plans, a to-do list can still be helpful. I put general things on mine that are certainly not urgent, but things I'd like to get to today anyway.

I added scripture, but you could add any daily affirmation, quote, or saying that appeals to you.  Add the weather, daily trackers (water, exercise, etc.), and other reminders, such as your favorite television show that might be airing that day.

I completed the layout above by adding a few stickers, and some memory keeping, which is one of the most important things to me.  In this case, I was encouraging myself that the number on the scales doesn't indicate the progress or work that I am currently putting into my weight-loss journey.  Below is the mostly completed page for the day.

I like days like this - when it feels kind of like I'm doing a scrapbook page, but when a project comes up where I have to plan using lists and reminders and schedules, then I am really a happy camper.

I usually try some sort of lettering for my daily headers, but I wanted to try something different for April.  I designed these today and thought I would share them here in case anyone else wanted to try them also!  Download them here.

 After completing my first monthly Traveler's Notebook insert, it's time to show you what will change in April.

The order of my April insert will remain the same, for the most part:  monthly calendar, a week at a glance, and daily pages to follow, but I made some tweeks to the layout.  The monthly calendar is a bit shorter because I made room for a monthly tracker at the bottom of the page.  I am trying out The Flylady cleaning system for the month, and I wanted a way to track some of the tasks that I want to make habit.

The week at a glance page had minor changes: the day headers went vertical and I divided up the day into two columns to give it a bit more order.

I think the daily pages went through the biggest change; I eliminated the grid and the date header and replaced it with only a page of dot grid.  

I added 3 new pages at the end of the booklet:  a page for daily gratitude, a monthly index, and a blog editorial calendar.  I'm looking forward to seeing how I like these new changes.

 As I was doing a little research for this blog post, I discovered rather quickly that my sticker collection could hardly be called a collection to the serious sticker users!  So, my suggestions are more for casual users, but I will also share ideas I found while searching online.

I try very hard to reign in my desire to "buy all the stickers," and that is mostly due to the fact that I don't have the storage space to get what I would really like to get my hands on!  Actually, I could buy lots of stickers if I wanted to throw them in a drawer, but the point is, we want to be able to easily view the stickers and find the ones we want quickly.

My current stash consists of 3 Happy Planner Sticker books, some Carpe Diem stickers for tabs, a 2-3 Dollar Tree sticker books, and few random sticker sheets from Etsy shops.  Not a large collection, and so far easily contained.

This wire organizer, similar to this one on Amazon (not an affiliate link), which was designed to hold mail, is what holds the biggest part of my stickers.  It sits on my desk near my planner supplies and works very well for me.

A 4x6 photo album is another good way to keep up with your stickers.  I use a small one that I found at Dollar Tree, but more serious users might consider buying bigger albums to hold their stickers.  Most sticker sheets are bigger than 4x6".  Mine holds the remainders of nearly empty sticker sheets that I have trimmed to fit the album.

Similar to the idea of using a photo album, full-size notebook binders are also a great idea.  Page protectors would hold most sticker sizes and inserts that hold business cards could hold the smaller stickers.  As a matter of fact, you can find full-size photo inserts that hold a variety of the most common photo sizes, such as 4x6, 5x7, and 3.5x5, that could manage all of the more uncommon sticker page sizes.

Another idea is to use a desktop file folder organizer (or a filing cabinet if your collection is that large) and organize your stickers into categories.

There are a number of plastic, portable storage cases/boxes that can be purchased to store your stickers, and also photo boxes (or shoeboxes) would work well - just use cardstock to make your own dividers.

The ideas are endless - with all the different sizes of cardboard boxes, a creative gal could DIY a great storage area for stickers!

Do you have any ideas that you would like to share?

 My college freshman is on Spring Break this week, plus my husband and other son are between paint jobs and have been off the first part of the week.  It seemed like a good time to give the blog an official spring break and take this time to enjoy my family.  If I don't fit in another blog this week, I'll see you guys on Monday!  Happy Spring!